Elena Vasilievna Glinskaya (1506-1538)
}} | burial_date = | burial_place= Ascension Convent, Kolomenskoye Archangel Cathedral, Kremlin (1929) | religion = Eastern Orthodox |}} Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya ( ; (1506 – `7 Aoril (4 April o.s.) 1538, Moscow) was the second wife of Grand Prince Vasili III of Russia and regent of Russia for 5 years (1533–38). Background Elena was a daughter of Prince Vasili Lvovich Glinsky and Princess Ana Jakšić of Serbia. It is to her powerful uncle, Prince Mikhail Glinsky, that the family owned its distinction. In 1525, Vasili III decided to divorce his barren wife, Solomoniya Saburova, and marry Elena. According to the chronicles, he chose Elena "because of the beauty of her face and her young age."Natalia Pushkareva, Women in Russian History from the Tenth to the Twentieth Century. Eve Levin Trans. (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997), 65. Grand Princess Despite strong opposition from the Russian Orthodox Church, the divorce was effected, and Elena gave birth to Ivan (future Ivan IV the Terrible) in 1530 and Yuri (future prince of Uglich) in 1532.Janet Martin, Medieval Russia 980-1584 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 292-293. It was later rumoured, that Elena brought witches from Finland and people of the Sami to help her conceive by the help of magicIsabel De Madariaga (in Swedish) : Ivan den förskräcklige ("Ivan the Terrible") (2008) On his deathbed, Vasili III transferred his powers to Elena Glinskaya until his oldest son Ivan was mature enough to rule the country.Martin, Medieval Russia, 293. The chronicles of those times do not provide any more or less precise information on Elena's legal status after Vasili's death. All that is known is that it could be defined as regency and that the boyars had to report to her. That is why the time between Vasili's death and her own demise in 1538 is called the reign of Elena. Regency Elena Glinskaya challenged the claims of her brothers-in-law, Yuri Ivanovich of Dmitrov and Andrei Ivanovich of Staritsa. The struggle ended with their incarceration in 1534 and 1537, respectively. Elena's reign is also known for conflicts inside the government caused by her close association with a handsome young boyar named Ivan Feodorovich Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky and Metropolitan Daniel. In 1535, Elena carried out a currency reform that introduced a unified monetary system in the state. In foreign affairs, Glinskaya succeeded in signing an armistice with Lithuania in 1536, while simultaneously neutralizing Sweden. She had a new defensive wall constructed around Moscow, invited settlers from Lithuania, bought Russian prisoners free and instigated measures to protect travelers against street bandits.Isabel De Madariaga (in Swedish) : Ivan den förskräcklige ("Ivan the Terrible") (2008) She is recorded as having visited several conventsIsabel De Madariaga (in Swedish) : Ivan den förskräcklige ("Ivan the Terrible") (2008) Elena died in 1538 at a relatively young age. Some historians believe that she was poisoned by the Shuiskys, who usurped power after her death. Recent studies of her remains tend to support the thesis that Elena was poisoned.Martin, Medieval Russia, 331; Pushkareva, Women in Russian History, 65-67. References }} |- |- |- ] Category:Russian royal consorts Category:Russian leaders Category:Politics of Muscovy Category:Female regents Category:16th-century female rulers Category:16th-century Russian people Category:Rurik dynasty